1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an appliance having a display device, and more particularly to a display window member for a portable terminal, and a method for fabricating the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a portable terminal, such as a mobile communication terminal or a portable multimedia device, includes a display device, and a transparent window member is mounted on the display device so as to protect the display device.
An input device, such as a keypad or a track pad is provided to a conventional display device for inputting information. However, as various functions, such as Internet access, multimedia reproduction or the like, are performed in a single communication terminal, a display device for such a portable terminal is implemented with a touch screen function. The touch screen is large enough manipulating Internet access or a multimedia function, thus the functions of input and output devices through the display device with a touch screen function is more preferred.
As a touch screen operated over an extended time, the screen may be deteriorated due to damage, such as scratches on the surface of the window member. As a result, various efforts have been made to prevent a display device, especially a window member of a display device provided with a touch screen function, from being damaged.
A window member has been typically fabricated using an acryl sheet, injection molding using acryl, a polymer synthetic resin film, or the like. Using such polymer synthetic resins is poor in terms of surface quality or clarity and endurance for a display device with a touch function. In order to reinforce the endurance, in other words in order to reinforce the surface hardness of such a window member fabricated from a polymer synthetic resin material, coating may be applied on the display. However, such coating makes it difficult to secure evenness for the surface of the window member. If a window member with an uneven surface is applied to a display device, the window member will distort the screen of the display device.
Alternatively, a window member is fabricated using a tempered glass so as to prevent the surface of the window member from being damaged. Although such a tempered glass is superior in terms of surface quality, transmissivity and clarity, it has disadvantages in that its fabrication cost is high since repeated processing steps are required until it is completed as a window member with a desired specification and quality, and its yield is low since a defect may occur due to chips produced during the manufacturing process.
Moreover, when it is intended to implement a curved surface on a window member, it is more difficult to secure the required surface quality for a window member formed from a synthetic resin material, especially when the window member is fabricated from a tempered glass. Further, the manufacturing cost is further increased since the processing is more complicated.
Furthermore, a window member formed from a glass material has a disadvantage in that the possibility of being cracked or fractured is high when it is exposed to external impact or the like.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved window member for a display device that addresses the above mentioned problems.